From fragmentation to configuration

The rapid emergence of the policy science conception is a consequence of profound changes in the modern world, and in turn is affecting public and private decision. In broad outline European civilization has passed from a high level of homogeneity to increasing fragmentation, and more recently toward a new and comprehensive configurative outlook.(1) The differentiation of the modern world fostered the fragmentation of intellectual life. It reduced the relative number of men of knowledge who gave attention to the map of knowledge as a whole, or to the social consequences and policy implications of science and scholarship.(2) At a later stage of differentiation specialists attain a high level of involvement in the policy processes of society. Increasingly they utilize a configurative approach to the advancement and application of knowledge.(3) At first, special and exclusive interests are multiplied by differentiation and fragmentation. As the aggregate impact of men of knowledge expands, particular demands are made more universal. This is a by-product of coalition formation.(4) Configurative ways of thinking do not necessarily result in effective control by champions of democratic and peaceful policy aims unless genuine freedom of access to knowledge—to data banks—is maintained, realistic common interests are unlikely to be defined either by policy scientists or decisionmakers.Distinguished Professor of Policy Sciences, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York; Ford Foundation Professor Emeritus of the Social Sciences and Law, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.